THE LOBBYIST MAFIA

REP LOUISE SLAUGHTER - I represent upstate New York,
and I'm the ranking member on the Rules Committee. . .
I know a little something about corruption. In the late '70s,
I chaired the Public Safety Committee in the Monroe County
Legislature in New York. And while it may not be well-known
everywhere, both Buffalo and Rochester were notorious
mob cities, and we were trying to clean up the mob.

And I was taught by the district attorney and the police chief
and the sheriff to take a mirror on the stick every morning
before I left the garage and look under the car to make sure
there were no bombs there. Well, I didn't flinch from any of
that then, and I'm sure not going to flinch from any of this now,
because I believe our democracy is at
stake. . .

Now, every American has the right to expect and believe that
the people they sent to Washington are honest and upright.
They don't seem to require much intellect, but at least they
should expect that.

But today we're suffering the consequences of what may be
the worst corruption in the nation's history. . . What we're up
against isn't just the shameful work of individuals like these. It's
a much broader problem. . .

Over the last five years, the number of special interest lobbyists . . .
I believe that when Clinton left office there were 9,500. There
are more than 34,000 today. And, in fact, that's 63 lobbyists for
each member of Congress.

Now along with the corporations they represent and the
numerous Republican legislators that they court, they are now
writing the bills that hurt every man, woman and child in this country.

They have infiltrated every aspect of the government. Their
money and donations shape the opinions of corrupt lawmakers
in a way that public opinion no longer does. . . For example, in
2001, our nation's energy poicy was written in closed sessions
by representatives of major corporations. And you know where
that has ended. . .

And during the Iraq war, most egregiously, our security has been
sacrificed as well as the safety of our troops repeatedly by the
lawmakers who handed out defense contracts to their friends,
instead of to those most qualified.

And we saw that most recently in the article in the New York
Times that 80 percent of the Marines could have been saved
with the proper armor. More than $9 billion in Iraq reconstruction
funds has disappeared into the black hole of no-bid contracts,
created by the lobbyists and corrupt politicians. . .

Today, seniors, you all know, are struggling -- many of them people
you're related to, I'm sure -- to understand the confusing Medicare
prescription drug bill that certainly we knew at the time was not
written for the men and women of the country who need help
but it was wrtten for the benefit of the insurance and drug
companies who don't. And I firmly believe in my soul that this bill
was intended to kill Medicare.

From tax policy to public television and radio programming to
the laws that regulate the safety of our drinking water, nothing
has proved too precious to avoid being sold for a price.

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SEECH-+Ethics+Reform+Package.htm